


Secrets never stay secret

by siojo



Series: Younger Luffy AU [5]
Category: One Piece
Genre: M/M, younger Luffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-04
Updated: 2016-07-04
Packaged: 2018-07-20 01:29:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7385521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siojo/pseuds/siojo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rayleigh always let's Ace know when word gets to him about something that might affect Ace. Including the fact that the Marines know who Ace is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Secrets never stay secret

_Someone knows your name_.

 

Ace feels his heart stop in his chest, the words too loud in the silence of his cabin for all that they’re written on a scrap of paper hidden in a letter from Shakky. Four words and everything that Ace’s fought so hard for seems to crash silent to the ground at his feet, gone as quickly

 

He can feel the worry that seeps into his mind and the fear that always, _always_ hovers just out at the edges of his thoughts. It’s like he’s suddenly a child sitting and listening to the shitty geezer stumble and hem over how best to tell a child that their father is a monster.

 

“Fuck,” Ace mutters, a hand tangling in his hair, the other coming up to cover his mouth. “Fuck.”

 

His leg bounces, nervous energy hunting for any outlet that it can find.

 

Ace burns the note, heading to the communication room, where Haruta sits at the helm, her eyes skimming over reports that appear at her elbow just as she finishes one. She raises an eyebrow at him as he steps in the door.

 

“You need something Ace?” She asks curiously, smile turning dangerous. “Finally going to hand over the code to the linen closets?”

 

“Never,” Ace grins back, stuffing his hands into his pockets, trying to look more relaxed then he feels. “Ray asked me to call him when I got his letter, you got a snail secure enough for his tastes that I can borrow?”

 

Haruta gazes at him for a long moment, her eyes sharp, before she nods, “Yeah. Hey you!” One of her men jumps. “Get Ace-chan a mushi that the Dark Princess won’t complain about.” She turns back to Ace. “There you go.”

 

“I’m going to tell him that you called him a princess.” Ace blurts out.

 

“Don’t you dare! You!” The man stops, tiny snail in hand. “Belay that.”

 

Ace grins, “No, you should give me the snail. Seriously.”

 

“Ugh, I will get that code one day and you will suffer.” Haruta sighs. “Give him the snail. I want it back without scorch marks this time, Ace.”

 

“I’ll try,” Ace promises, already taking off for one of his hiding places.

 

He has hundreds. The Moby is a huge ship and Ace spent a hundred days trying to keep out of sight of the crew except when he was trying to murder the captain, he knows where most of them are.

 

“I was expecting you,” Rayleigh sighs. “You want more information, I presume.”

 

“Of fucking course I do. What the fuck happened?” Ace hisses.

 

Papers shuffle on the other side of the line, “We don’t know who was looking into it. We don’t know why they were looking and we don’t know why they got lucky, we’d need to get a marine or talk to the Revolutionary Army to get a better idea. What we do know is that the Marines took it seriously and confirmed it for themselves.”

 

“So we know nothing and the Marines are gunning for me,” Ace sighs tiredly, his eyes burning. “Could Teach be involved?”

 

“Fuck.” Rayleigh groans. “Fuck. He knew that we were close. He knew that I knew your parents, looking up Rouge won’t get much more then speculation but we don’t know what happened between Roger’s death and her’s. There could have been evidence with one of her old friends or with her family.”  
  


Ace doesn’t comment on the family. He doesn’t know what went down between his mother and her parents but he knows that he’s never met them and that Gramps looks for the first out that he can find when they are brought up in a conversation. They could have given him up, if they had known or given up something of Rouge’s that had just the wrong sequence of words.

 

“What are we doing?” Ace asks finally.

 

“I’m going to see if Dragon’s willing to talk to me or send someone to talk to you, unless he’s upset that you’ve taken his son,” Ace would still take Luffy from Fuusha, even if it means that Dragon won’t help them. “What will Whitebeard do?”

 

Ace flinches, “I don’t know.”

 

“Ace?”

 

“I tried to tell him and he said that it didn’t matter who my father was, something about us all being children of the sea?” Ace shrugs to himself. “I… I’m going to talk to him tonight. And Marco too.”

 

Rayleigh makes a noise, “Oh, kid.”

 

“You know if a kid with dark hair asks the question, what would you do if Gol Roger had a kid, the person asked usually starts to get suspicious?” Ace says hollowly. “I made sure they were drunk, enough that they wouldn’t remember, but I wanted to know the answer.”

 

“What did they say?”

 

Ace laughs bitterly, “You know what they said. The same thing that the Marines think should be done to me. Thank you, for the warning, I need to go.”

 

“Ace,” He stops, short of turning off the mushi. “You’ll always have a place on Sabaody if you need it.”

 

“Thanks, Ray. I might have to take you up on that.”

 

Ace smiles as he gives the mushi back to Haruta, plays at their usual banter and laughs when he’s suppose to. It’s mechanical and something that Ace is so use to that he could probably do it in his sleep.

 

“So what did the old guy want?” Haruta asks.

 

“To gossip about Shanks,” Ace lies. “Apparently he got caught in a dress.”

 

Bile rises in his throat and his palms sweat, happy endings aren’t for monsters, Ace should have remembered that.

 

–

 

“Son?” Whitebeard asks, studying Ace in confusion. “Is something wrong?”

 

Ace shifts, not a yes or a no, but he moves and it seems strange enough that Whitebeard is put on edge.

 

“Can I talk to you? Alone?”

 

“Of course. Ana, please?”

 

Ana glares at him, her eyes narrowed and her hands going to her hips, “You move out of your chair and I will tie you to your bed with your own oxygen tubing, are we clear?”

 

“As the sea,” Whitebeard agrees brightly. The sea isn’t clear it is brackish and Ana has yet to note that, thinking it was something that he had heard as a child. Ah, youth. So trusting. “Thank you.”

 

Ace keeps shifting, tapping a foot here or recrossing his arms there. It’s enough to put Whitebeard on edge, his nerves humming.

 

“Now,” He turns his attention to Ace fully, the room cleared out. “What’s wrong, son?”

 

“Something big is coming. For me.” Ace ducks his head. “And I known you said that my father didn’t matter, but it’s that man’s fault that this will happen and I need to tell you, please.”

 

“Son?”

 

Ace flinches, “I’m being hunted down, actively instead of the way they normally do, for public execution.”

 

Whitebeard’s right eyebrow jumps towards his skull cap. The last time that the Marines had actively hunted anyone was when the rumors of Roger’s lover and child had been running rampant and the rest of the Oro Jackson had been running for their lives as their captain was executed.

 

“How did you find out about this?”

 

“Rayleigh lets me know when he finds out about things that will affect me. Where my shitty Gramps is and shit.” Ace explains. “He doesn’t know how they found out, but Teach, if Teach talked to the wrong person, said the wrong thing.”

 

“I’ll assume that this secret is part of a rather large conspiracy?”

 

Ace shakes his head, “Fifteen people tops. Me, Gramps, Dadan, Dragon, two of his top men, a dead kid, Shanks, probably Benn, and Rayleigh. I keep a couple extra fingers because mom’s folks might know.”

 

“And they are all trustworthy enough not to have said anything?”

 

“Mom’s folks would rather pretend that they don’t have a daughter, let alone a grandson that followed in her footsteps. A dead kid can’t talk, Gramps and Dadan both swore to protect me. Shanks and Rayleigh are loyal enough to keep quiet, and Benn won’t say anything if Shanks tells him not to.” Ace rattles off. Whitebeard feels like these are the exact words that he used to talk himself through this. “Only ones I don’t know are Dragon and his men.”

 

Whitebeard nods slowly, “What purpose would Dragon have to give up that information?”

 

“None, I’ve got his son,” So that’s where Luffy came from. Whitebeard had been curious, children weren’t just given away at random and Ace had said that Luffy wasn’t his. “And he was friends with my mom.”

 

“I see.”

 

He doesn’t. He doesn’t understand how one of his sons could be hunted so intensely that the Dark King was worried for the boy’s continued safety. That his son thought he had to drag up an already finished conversation to explain.

 

“Gol D Roger.” Ace breaths.

 

Oh. Whitebeard pauses for a long moment.

 

“Roger? You’re Roger’s?”

 

Ace flinches, but he nods, “Yes.”

 

“That doesn’t change anything, Ace.” Ace looks up, face shocked. “I told you, we are all children of the sea.” Whitebeard turns grim. “We will have to discuss this with the rest of the commanders.”

 

“Could that,” Ace swallows thickly. “Could you wait just a day? I…I have.” He crosses his arms and looks away again. “I haven’t told Marco.”

 

“Of course, son.”

 

–

 

Luffy knows lots of things.

 

He knows his letters and numbers. He knows to read a map, kind of, Marco’s still teaching him. He knows how to fight. He knows how to keep secrets. He even has his own secrets.

 

There’s a man that visits sometimes, he’s got a top hat and a napkin around his neck even when he isn’t eating. He only comes to see Luffy.

 

He says that Luffy’s dad sent him. Luffy doesn’t know why, his dad gave him to Gramps and then Gramps gave him first to Makino and then to Ace, so that means that Ace is his grown up who protects, loves, and feeds him.

 

Ace has a Marco now, which means that Luffy has two people who are his grown ups. He’s pretty sure that he’s never had two at the same time, at least not with him all the time. And they are. Ace and Marco are almost always there and when they aren’t, they always come back exactly when they say they will.

 

Or Mr Ray brings him back to Ace, cause Ace says that Mr Ray is Luffy’s sitter when Ace is busy. Like when he tried to kill Crescent-stache.

 

“Luffy?”

 

“Napkin man!” Luffy whispers, voice still louder then average. “What are you doing here?”

 

Napkin man smiles, “Dragon sent me. He wants me to see how you’re doing.”

 

“We did that last week,” Luffy whines.

 

“Did we?”

 

Luffy nods, “The girl came, cause she said you were an idiot who got himself into trouble.”

 

“Why I never,” Napkin man looks insulted. “Whatever. Tell me about your week.”

 

“I don’t wanna.”

 

Napkin man blinks in surprise, “You…you don’t?”

 

“No, cause Ace is scared and Marco’s upset and Crescent-stache is being weird too. So I don’t wanna talk to you, I want Ace to be happy and Marco to not be mad and Crescent-stache to do his funny laugh.” Luffy sniffs, scrubbing at his face. “So there.”

 

Ace doesn’t tell Luffy things sometimes, Luffy knows that it’s because he’s not a grown up, but normally it doesn’t end up with all his most important people like this. Plus Izo looks just as confused as Luffy is, so he can’t even beg answers from him, because there aren’t any answers to be had.

 

“Do you need a hug?” Napkin man asks.

 

“I don’t want a hug from you, I want Ace.” Luffy feels the tears welling up in his eyes and scrubs at them, the last time another kid saw him crying they had called him a crybaby. Luffy wasn’t a cry baby, he was the future Pirate King. “I want Ace!”

 

Napkin man panics, cause he’s not suppose to be seen as tears start falling down Luffy’s cheeks, big and soaking into Luffy’s pillow and he sobs loud enough that he can’t hear his heart pounding in his ears anymore.

 

“Lu?” Ace is suddenly in his space and Napkin man is gone, just like he always is. Ace lifts Luffy into his lap and starts wiping his tears. “Oh, Lu. What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

 

“I don’t want you to be sad anymore,” Luffy sobs. “I don’t want you to be sad and I don’t want Marco to be mad and I want the old man to do his funny laugh.”

 

Ace blinks, eyes going wide, “Oh. Oh Luffy,” He hugs Luffy tight enough that if feels like he can’t breath and Luffy sniffles and hopes that Ace never lets go. “Hey, I’m sorry, you didn’t do anything wrong and I’m sorry that you felt like you did.”

 

“That’s not it,” Luffy scrubs at his eyes. “It’s not. I know that it’s my fault, but I want you to be happy again, like you were and I want Marco to stop glaring. Are you breaking up?”

 

Luffy startles at another weight on his bed, Marco at his back pulling him out of Ace’s grip.

 

“We’re not breaking up,” Marco states and Luffy buries his face into Marco’s shoulder. “We’re not breaking up and we’re not leaving you. I’m not mad at Ace.”

 

“You’re not?”

 

Marco bounces him, “Of course not. Someone is trying to hurt Ace using his mom and father, so Ace is sad, and I’m mad because someone wants to hurt Ace. Pops is just a worrywart.”

 

–

 

Ace leans back against their bedroom door after Luffy’s cried himself to sleep, “What are we going to tell him?”

 

“I don’t know.” Marco answers, on their bed, his head in his hands. “How do you tell a kid that one of their parental figures is being hunted to be killed? We’ve never had to worry about it before.” He looks up. “What did Garp tell you about your father?”

 

“That he was a monster,” Ace replies. “We are not telling Luffy that I’m a monster.”

 

Marco glances up at him for a long moment, “Who let Garp raise you?”

 

“That man told Garp that mom was pregnant and asked him to watch out for her. Mom was tricky and he only found her when she was having me and dying, so she asked him to care for me. I don’t think that he was her first choice.” Ace shrugs.

 

“Alright, so we have no idea how to tell Luffy.” Marco pauses. “We could ask Pops?”

 

“He has a daughter, doesn’t he?” Ace agrees slowly.

 

Marco hums, “Ace, why haven’t they announced your relation to that man?”

 

“Because, it will make the public panic and panic is the last thing that they need. They’ll sit on it until they get me into custody and then they’ll scream it to the world.” Ace answers, he smiles grimly at the look Marco shoots him. “That Gramps was actually very detailed about.”


End file.
